Let’s start with clarifying the terminology. That is PCIe in your picture, not PCI.

You’re trying to put an x8 card in an x4 slot, which doesn’t fit because the end of the socket interferes. If you want to modify the socket to have the end open, then you can plug in the card, and it will very likely work, but will have x4 connectivity and bandwidth. I think that the bandwidth is not a problem for your application, if I understand correctly what you are trying to do.

When I was in High School, taking driver’s ed, we were trained in a car with two sets of controls — the instructor sat in the right hand seat at the second set; I was sitting in the back seat next to a stunningly beautiful girl, not paying too much attention to the girl up front driving , who seemed to think that every deviation from a straight trajectory should be compensated for by turning the wheel full-lock in the opposite direction, when — after observing her drive a block, going from curb to curb — the instructor completely looses his shit, pulls the car straight, slams on the brakes, and yells “What the fuck is wrong with you? Are you fucking brain damaged?” At which point, I emerged from my pretty-girl induced fantasy world, and thought to myself “Well, if she wasn’t before, she sure as fuck is now!”.

I felt really bad for her, and I hope she worked through it, but maybe she felt the need to move to Australia to escape the embarrassment of that experience.

At my employer, every year in December we are ecouraged to opt into donating a portion of each check for the upcoming year to a charity of your choice. You also have the choice of making a one time donation as low as five dollars, but everyone that talked to me tried to talk me into the weekly amount.

Hour are not consistent in retail, and sometimes we get as few as 7 hours during low traffic times. I wasn't going to commit myself to giving $20 a paycheck if suddenly needed that for groceries or bills.

The day before the deadline ended, everyone in our district who had yet to donate was told they would have to sit on a conference call with the DM while he explained the program and how important it is to give and if anyone has any questions.

Nope. Logged into the employee portal in front of my manager and elected to give $20 per paycheck. As soon as she left, I changed it to a one time donation of $5.

I donate here and there when I can afford to outside of my job. The company doesn't need to shame me into it just because it makes them look good or whatever the fuck they get out of it.

If you are having to do that through a company portal, then that amounts to making a purchase from the company — something that is illegal under California labor code. FYI, just in case you’re in California.